Prince Henry’s Institute

 

Eva Dimitriadis

 

Appointments

• NHMRC Career Development Award - Level 2 Fellow

• Adjunct Senior Lecturer -  Department of Anatomy and Developmental Biology, Monash University

• Lecturer - Education Program in Reproductive Biology and Masters of Embryology

 

Profile

Dr Eva Dimitriadis completed her BSc degree in Melbourne and gained 8 years experience as a research assistant in Melbourne, Munich and Dublin following which she completed her PhD studies at the prestigous Trinity College Dublin, Ireland in 1996.  She undertook a post-doctoral fellowship in the Departments of Clinical Medicine and Surgery, University of Dublin, Ireland. In 1999 she returned to Australia and began her research in reproductive biology at PHI.

 

Research Interests

Dr Dimitriadis has a passion in understanding infertility, what factors contribute to making the endometrium receptive to an implanting embryo, and endometrial-trophoblast interactions during embryo implantation.

She also has a strong interest in developing new non-hormonal contraceptives that also prevent sexually transmitted diseases and the development of treatments for endometrial cancer.. 

Eva has used two novel long acting cytokine inhibitors, produced by her collaborators at the The Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research, to totally prevent embryo implantation in mice as proof of principle of their potential as novel non-hormonal contraceptives for women.  

Her collaborations include the Walter Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research, Monash University, University of Tokyo, and the Karolinska Instituet in Sweden.

  

Expertise 

Endometrial and placental physiology, infertility, in vivo and in vitro models, inflammatory mediators.

 

Recent Achievements

• Demonstrated critical roles for the cytokine interleukin 11 (IL-11) in decidualization and trophoblast function and hence placentation.

• Identified IL-11 and leukaemia inhibitory factor are abnormal in endometrium of infertile women and have important roles in the very early stages of implantation in women.

• Demonstrated that two novel long acting cytokine inhibitors totally prevent embryo implantation in mice providing proof of concept of their potential as  the world's first novel pharmacological non-hormonal contraceptive for women.

• 2009 - awarded CONRAD grant

• 2009 - awarded NHMRC Career Development Award Level 2

• 2009 - awarded NHMRC Project Grant

 

Current Research 

• Endometrial-placental interactions & healthy pregnancy

• Implantation factors, fertility and IVF

• Female contraceptives that also block STDs

• New treatments for endometrial cancer

 

Selected Publications

White CA, Zhang J-G, Salamonsen LA, Baca M, Fairlie WD, Metcalf D, Nicola NA, Robb L, Dimitriadis E (2007) Blocking leukemia inhibitory factor action in the uterus using a novel PEGylated antagonist prevents implantation: a new non-hormonal contraceptive strategy. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 104:19357-62. (Work included in an Editorial in Science, 318: 1835 (2007) and PNAS cover feature).

Marwood E, Visser K, LA Salamonsen, E Dimitriadis (2009) Interleukin 11 and leukemia inhibitory factor regulate the adhesion of endometrial epithelial cells: implications in fertility regulation. Endocrinology, in press

Paiva P, Salamonsen LA, Manuelpillai U, Dimitriadis E (2009) Interleukin 11 inhibits human trophoblast invasion indicating a likely role in the decidual restraint of trophoblast invasion during placentation. Biology of Reproduction 80:302-10.

Tapia A, Salamonsen LA, Manuelpillai U, Dimitriadis E (2008) Leukemia inhibitory factor promotes human first trimester extravillous trophoblast adhesion to extracellular matrix and secretion of TIMP-1 and -2. Human Reproduction 23:1724-32. 

Dimitriadis E, Stoikos C, Tan Y-L, Salamonsen L (2006) IL-11 signalling components SOCS3 and STAT3 regulate human endometrial stromal cell differentiation. Endocrinology 147:3809-17.

Dimitriadis E, Sharkey AM, Tan YL, Sherwin JR (2007) Immunolocalisation of phosphorylated STAT3, interleukin 11 and leukaemia inhibitory factor in endometrium of women with unexplained infertility during the implantation window. Reprod Biol Endocrinol 5(1):44.